Manon + The Truth
CLOUZOT FRENCH 24’s final double feature takes us back to Opening Night of FRENCH 1 in 2014, reprising a pair of superb, operatic but lesser-known films by Henri-Georges Clouzot — with both films focusing on the plight of women who are too independent (and too sexy) for their own good.
Manon
7:00 PM Updated from a scandalous eighteenth-century novel, Manon features Cécile Aubry in the title role where she and her lover (Michel Auclair) stow away on a boat headed to post-WWII Palestine (shades of today’s calamitous headlines…) and relate their sordid tale to the scandalized sea captain after they are discovered. (1949, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 100m)
The Truth / La Vérité
9:00 PM In The Truth, the one and only Brigitte Bardot discovers lust, hypocrisy and betrayal at every turn when she is put on trial for the killing of her abusive love (Sami Frey). Incendiary courtroom scenes alternate with Bardot’s reminscences about the events leading up to the killing, with fireworks aplenty. We can view the film as a referendum on the sexuality of Bardot, at the height of her notoriety at the time The Truth was filmed. (1960, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 122m)
Midcentury Productions’ THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT ’24- Part Two brings a landmark ten-year series to a smashing conclusion with 18 more rare films noirs from France, the actual birthplace of noir! Seven ultra-rarities play in the little Roxie on Friday and Saturday, Nov 29-30, followed by 11 more gems in the Big Roxie from Sunday, Dec 1 through Tuesday, Dec 3. Eternal French film icons — Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot — all appear in terrific films you’ve never seen. Join us Friday and Sunday for a special look at the secret career of Erich von Stroheim where you’ll fall in love with “the man you love to hate”.
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